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The nine-banded armadillo is quietly expanding its range out of the southeastern United States, invading regions once too cold for the small mammal to survive. Scientists monitoring the armadillo's progress say the migration is a consequence of rising global temperatures. And it's a sign of more to come. "Armadillos are a pretty good climate change indicator species," said John MacGregor, a herpetologist at the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife. "When things that don't tolerate cold climates are suddenly appearing in a cold area, it tells me that area is getting warmer." Areas that once experienced bitterly cold winters, like...

The New York Times Magazine has done something unprecedented. On Wednesday, it released an entire issue containing just one article on the subject of global warming. “Losing Earth,” by Nathaniel Rich, chronicles the ten-year period from 1979 to 1989 in which scientists reached consensus about human-caused climate change, and politicians nearly came to a global-scale solution. Informed by more than 100 interviews and 18 months of reporting, the piece twists and turns around a zany cast of characters who bravely risked their careers to solve the climate crisis. There’s no spoiler alert needed for the ending: They failed. But it’s...

Energized by the internet persona Q’s complex web of conspiracy notions about the forces aligned against President Donald Trump, Q’s followers have spread virally online and now, in real life too, forming a movement known as QAnon. From somewhere in the vast and mysterious “deep state,” a dissident agent rises up to give the people cryptic clues about how their heroic president will push back the forces of evil and make America great again. The renegade informant is known only as “Q,” and if he actually exists, it’s not as a character in a movie, but somewhere in the Washington,...

Mere seconds into the first words spoken to a jury from the special counsel team investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, Judge T.S. Ellis III interrupted. “Focus on the elements of the offense,” the 78-year-old jurist interjected Tuesday as Assistant U.S. Attorney Uzo Asonye described Paul Manafort as a man who believed he was above the law. Soon after, Ellis interrupted again, as Asonye sketched for jurors Manafort’s luxurious lifestyle. “It isn’t a crime to be profligate in your spending,” Ellis said. He soon admonished defense attorney Thomas Zehnle in a similar fashion. “I take it you plan to...

When gay businessman David Cooley boarded Alaska Airlines flight 1407 from Los Angeles to New York this past weekend, he expected to enjoy the airline's top-rated service and the amenities that accompanied his Premium Class ticket. Instead, however, he said he and his travel companion were subjected to "humiliation" instead. "I have never been so discriminated against while traveling before," Cooley, owner of iconic Los Angeles gay bar The Abbey, wrote in a public Facebook post. He said he and his travel companion were "removed" from their flight "to give preferential treatment to a straight couple." "After my traveling companion...

Securing funding for President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall once again seems to be getting punted further down the road by congressional leadership. During a radio interview with WHAS on Friday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border will likely not make it into the next funding legislation, which must be passed by the end of September in order to avoid another government shutdown. When directly asked if the funding of the border wall would have to wait until after midterm elections, the Republican senator replied “probably,” noting that it is “something [Democrats and Republicans]...

Mostar Bishop Again: All Apparitions in Medjugorje Are Not Credible Bishop Ratko Perić of Mostar-Duvno, Bosnia and Herzegovina,has told Pope Francis' special envoy to Medjugorje, Archbishop Henryk Hoser, that all alleged apparitions of Our Lady in Medjugorje are not credible. According to the Mostar-Duvno diocesan website (July 23) Perić based his judgment “on the basis of numerous investigations”. “The non-credible apparitions of the ‘Medjugorje phenomenon’ include those in the first seven or ten days of 1981”, he added. In summer 2017 a Vatican commission suggested to recognise the first seven apparitions as allegedly supernatural. #newsRyqxirndnz

Something interesting linking the New York Times to a state-run newspaper in Iran. When searching the domain registrar for “Iran” daily’s website, linked to the mullahs’ regime, the registrant and admin telephone number for the domain is the same New York Times calling number (212-556-1831). In addition to the phone number belonging to The New York Times, the registrant domain address is the same address as The New York Times building.“620 8TH AVE NEW YORK NY 10018-1618 US”

CHICAGO (CBS) — Dozens of bags, containing what many are calling “messages of hate,” were discovered over the weekend in Tinley Park. CBS 2’s Jeremy Ross reports area residents are concerned after finding KKK fliers around their community. Amber Stahl says her husband discovered a flyer on their lawn Saturday. The letter was in a plastic bag, weighed down by aquarium gravel. kkk flier KKK Fliers Found In Tinley Park Yards kkk flier in bag KKK Fliers Found In Tinley Park Yards “He took it out and said ‘Amber, can you believe this?’ It was a KKK flyer,” she said....

Rising seas, vanishing water resources, expanded deserts and disappearing species all have been blamed on global warming. Now it’s to blame for more suicides, says a new report. The Guardian of London reported a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change found warming could be as significant a cause as economic recessions, “which are known to increase self-harm.” “The links between mental health and global warming have not been widely researched but the new work analyzed temperature and suicides across the U.S. and Mexico in recent decades. It found that the rate of suicide rose by 0.7 percent in...

A Texas waiter has admitted making up a racist note calling him a 'terrorist' that he claimed was left on a check. Khalil Cavil, 20, claimed he was stiffed out of a tip on a $108 bill at the Saltgrass Steak House in Odessa, Texas over the weekend after the customer wrote on his receipt: 'We don't tip terrorist.' Now Cavill has admitted fabricating the episode, which resulted in the customer being barred from the establishment. Cavil told local paper the Odessa American: 'I did write it. I don’t have an explanation. I made a mistake. There is no excuse...

The Texas restaurant company that banned a customer after an employee’s story of a receipt scrawled with a racial epithet went viral said Monday that it had parted ways with the employee and learned that the story was spurious.

A server at a Texas steakhouse who went viral for sharing what he called a racist message from a customer, lied about what happened, his employer told a local newspaper. Saltgrass says the story that one of their servers shared on social media about receiving a racist note was “fabricated.” The server, Khalil Cavil, shared a photo of the receipt containing the note to Facebook. The note said “We don’t tip terrorists” and was shared thousands of times on social media. At the time, the restaurant corroborated the story and even confirmed they banned the customers from eating there again....

A Texas waiter who claimed to have been stiffed by a racist customer now admits he made the whole thing up. Saltgrass Steak House waiter Khalil Cavil went viral after posting a Facebook picture of a racist note that Cavil claimed a customer had left on the receipt, in lieu of a tip. “I don’t tip terrorist,” the note read, alongside a circle of Cavil’s name. Cavil’s Facebook post racked up thousands of shares and earned sympathetic coverage in The Washington Post and HuffPost, which were forced to post corrections atop their stories on Monday after Cavil admitted he fabricated the...

According to a survey published by Gallup, there are 36 economic and non-economic issues on the minds of Americans. No one mentioned climate change. As you might expect, economic issues were in the forefront of the voters' minds. But there are some interesting results nonetheless:

Investigation into New York Times reporter Stephanie Saul for breaking and entering in the apartment of a Corey Stewart campaign staffer in Woodbridge, Virginia. Stewart U.S. Senate campaign staffer Brian Landrum and a house guest have filed a police report after the house guest witnessed Stephanie Saul inside Landrum’s apartment Wednesday July 18 at 2:15 PM. Brian Landrum was at work and he was not in the apartment at the time. The eyewitness was able to identify New York Times reporter Stephanie Saul as the intruder.

The intrusion took place at Bell Stonebridge Apartments in Woodbridge, VA. “Working in politics, you become accustomed to the rough-and-tumble nature of the sport. But never in a million years could I have anticipated the New York Times sending a reporter to break into my apartment looking for a story. We’re working with police investigators, and look forward to justice being served,” Brian Landrum said in a statement. The eyewitness was listening to music when she heard rustling, turned around, and saw a female in Landrum’s kitchen. The woman was turning to leave. The kitchen is 5 to 10 feet...

A former co-worker of Peter Strzok tells Big League Politics about Strzok’s extensive background in the intelligence community, including the fact that he grew up in Iran. Many intelligence officers like Strzok are complete ghosts with questionable history and gaps in their life story. But now we have some insight. (RELATED: Strzok Worked For CIA And FBI At Same Time, According To Document). Peter Strzok was born in the late 1960’s – he attended the American School in Iran up until 1978 when it closed down and then he attended the American School in Saudi Arabia. He supposedly attended a...

[FULL TITLE] NBC: We Hear From A Single Source That Kennedy Negotiated His Retirement To Get Kavanaugh; Update: “That Is Garbage” Did Anthony Kennedy cut a secret deal with Donald Trump back in November to have Brett Kavanaugh replace him on the Supreme Court? Or do media outlets need to verify claims from single sources before taking them public? NBC’s Leigh Caldwell and Frank Thorp hear the pick has been locked in since November, and that the drama over the last two weeks was sheer atmospherics: Leigh Ann Caldwell ✔ @LACaldwellDC Replying to @LACaldwellDC Furthermore, the five names Trump added...

The Uber driver who allegedly tossed a lesbian couple from his car for kissing in the backseat — telling them it is “illegal” — has been recommended for reinstatement by an administrative law judge pending a final decision on his license. The case garnered national attention after video showing the aftermath of the June 9 incident went viral, depicting driver Ahmad El Boutari demanding that girlfriends Emma Pichl and Alex Iovine exit his car in lower Manhattan for being “disrespectful.” The couple claimed they were booted simply for an innocent smooch in the backseat, and called it discriminatory because of...